Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was arrested in a nightly police raid on her home in Reineh on October 11, 2015. She spent 3 months in different Israeli prisons and the rest of the year in house detention under strict limitations. She is being tried in the Israeli court in Nazareth for “incitement to violence”, based on a poem she published on Youtube and Facebook. Her case provoked wide protest from the literary community, by Palestinians and Israeli writers and even more on the international level. Many famous and prize winning poets, writers and intellectuals, and the international writers’ organization “Pen”, called for her release and for the dropping of charges against her.

Tatour’s lawyer, Abed Fahoum from Nazareth, was lately joined by lawyers Gaby Lasky and Nery Ramati from Tel Aviv. They filed a request to reconsider the decision to hold Tatour under house detention until the end of the trial. The request relies mainly on the long time that already passed and on the expected long time until the trial will finish. It also states that the prosecution, which finished resting its case on September 6, failed to bring substantial evidence.

After some legal struggle just to get the hearing going, it was set for Monday, October 31, 2016. I was reporting from the court on Tweeter (hashtag #DareenTatour) and Facebook (on the “Free Dareen Tatour” page) and here is the full report…

The case was not assigned to any specific judge and as we came in the morning it seems that judges do not want to handle it. The file was passed from one judge to the other like a hot potato.

In the end we started one and a half hour late with Judge Lili Jung-Goffer that only received the file a short time before. She is a senior judge in the magistrate court, and by her age she probably doesn’t wait for promotion, so she can be more independent. But she spent much of her career working for the prosecution in Nazareth and it seems from her behavior that she still feels like doing it – she hardly let lawyer Lasky utter one full sentence throughout the hearing.

As we went in she looked at Tatour and seemed to know her. She asked whether Tatour is this woman from the knifing incident that didn’t materialize… Lasky answered: No, she wrote a poem. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

The judge tried hard to press for a compromise that will let Tatour to go out for 2 hours each day – instead of the 3 days a week currently – but still accompanied by a “supervisor”. She even raised the idea that Tatour may get 4 hours for 3 days a week, saying that being closed in the house for such a long period is really suffocating.

Basically Tatour was not interested in such a compromise as she wants to go back to work and study. Besides, there is no much fresh air to take for a 34 years old woman when you must always drag one of your parents or brothers with you for every step you go.

The defense presented some decisions from the military court in Ofer, which decided to release Palestinians detainees while on trial for incitement. On the other hand lawyer Hardak for the prosecution said she have plenty of cases of Palestinians that are held in detention, many of them in prison and not house detention, while on trial for charges similar to Tatour’s.

When Lasky tried to say that the security situation in Israel today is less tense than it was when Tatour was first arrested on October 2015, the judge interrupted her again in the middle of the sentence. When we discussed the trial later some of the people that were present in the court were ready to swear that they heard the lawyer for the prosecution saying that we can gladly say that the security situation is not any better. Checking in the protocol we found that she was cited as saying that we can’t gladly say that the situation improved…

We almost lost any hope before the judge came with the proposal to ask for a new report from a probation officer. She said she knows any decision in this case will be appealed, and the district court will ask for a report anyway, so better to have it now. Lasky agreed. Hardak, in a show of obstinacy that is not usual in the courts but typical to the prosecution’s behavior in this case, objected even to having an expert opinion.

The next hearing was set to Monday, November 14, 10 am, on the hope that the report from the probation officer will be ready. It left us some slim hope that Tatour will be freed before the next hearing of the main trial and will be able to wage the struggle to prove her innocence without the constant pressure of a prolonged detention.

Meanwhile we learned that in the next hearing of the main trial, in November 17, the court will hear again the defense request to oblige the prosecution to release information concerning the claim of discriminative enforcement. At this hearing, also, poet Dareen Tatour should stand before the court and testify for the first time, more than 13 months after her detention, to explain that her poem is a legitimate protest against the crimes of the occupation.

Interview by Jessica Rohan

Editor’s note: Dareen Tatour’s trial scheduled for September 6th could not proceed due to the lack of an Arabic translator for Dareen’s testimony. Her trial resumes in November.

Jessica Rohan: Others accused in minor incidents of incitement via Facebook were allowed to remain under house arrest during trial, yet you were jailed for three months while the prosecution appeared to be appealing for a harsher ruling from the District Court. Why do you think your case was handled in this exceptional manner? Why do you think you were forced to serve your house arrest in another location?

Dareen Tatour:I’m still trying to understand why they’re acting so aggressively in my case, unlike others facing charges similar to mine. The public prosecutor claims that I pose a danger and that having me under house arrest is dangerous. But what is this danger and against whom? I still don’t know until today and after all this time. They have detained me for three months and refused to let me go home to my family. They detained me away from my hometown and my environment. I still have no answer to your question, because their behavior is illogical. In fact, it’s self-contradictory. For one thing, they claim that I pose a danger to jews but then they sent me to a Jewish area. Then, they claimed that I pose a danger to my own family and community. How is it that I’m charged with inciting against the state and at the same time pose a threat to my own people? I ask these questions and can’t find any answers

JR: Your charges did not include a violent crime, yet you were arrested in a police raid on your home at 3am. Why do you think that law enforcement chose to arrest you in that manner?

DT:I don’t know what caused them to raid my house so violently. It surprised me when i was detained. They didn’t even have an arrest warrant. I think what happened is part of a systematic policy against Palestinians in general and against the Arab minority in Israel in particular. What happened with me is part of the occupation under which we Palestinians live, and part of the discrimination we face from all parties and political institutions of the state.

JR:You’ve stated that you feel unfairly targeted as a poet. Why do you think the Israeli state chose to act in the manner that they did?

DT: The fact that the poem was listed in the charge against me explains the crisis that Israel’s democracy is going through. The reality I’ve lived confirms that. In my opinion, the only explanation for detaining me as a poet is that democracy in this state applies only for a specific group, and is not a democracy for all. This is part of the discrimination against Arabs I spoke of earlier.

JR:Who were the volunteer guards who monitored you in Tel Aviv? How were they chosen?

DT: It is very saddening that my brother and his fiancé became my guards while I was under house arrest in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv, away from home. The conditions were so harsh and restrictive that they were virtually detained with me.

JR: +972 reported that you requested to be returned to jail rather than remain in Kiryat Ono to await approval to continue house arrest in your family home. Why is that?

DT: I suffered greatly being under house arrest away from home. That’s what made me decide to go back to prison instead of going back to house arrest in Kiryat Ono even for one day. Under house arrest away from home, I was in solitary confinement for six months, which was beyond human tolerance. I had no way to get out of that but to go back to prison.

JR:The stated qualifications of the policeman who translated your poem into Hebrew was his study of literature in high school and a love for the Arabic language. He testified at the trial, where the prosecution and the judge essentially analyzed your poem to determine whether it constituted incitement. Why do you think that a more qualified translator was not used in court?

DT:Because this police officer serves and supports the position of the prosecutor’s office. To bring a real translator means proving my innocence of the charge of incitement in the poem. Of course this is not what the prosecutor wants.

JR:The solidarity campaign on your behalf included a letter signed by hundreds of fellow writers and artists. Do you think that your status as a poet helped to generate the international backlash against the Israeli government in your case?

DT: Of course. Being a poet helped publicize my case internationally and led to expressions of solidarity by hundreds of poets and writers. There are more than 400 Palestinian detainees held for charges related to freedom of expression. They have not found anyone to speak for them. I wish that each Palestinian detainee facing such charges would become an international cause. This is a humanitarian cause before it is a personal one for a poet like me.

JR:Do you think that the solidarity campaign could continue to influence the outcome of your case when the trial resumes on September 6th?

DT: Since my case has become internationally known and a case of public opinion on the freedom of expression, I learned from my lawyer that the prosecutor became very concerned about the wide-spread attention. I can say, and even confirm, that the solidarity campaign could affect the course of the upcoming trial, just like it did in the decision to place me under house arrest in my house in Reineh.

I could also say that my cause has become the cause of every Palestinian, which is protecting rights or an attempt to restore the rights of Palestinians violated by Israel, first of which is freedom of expression.

JR: Do you have a particular vision about what you hope to write or achieve as a poet in the future?

DT: The definite answer for me is that I will continue my work as an artist, writing poetry and doing photography, just as I did before detention. And I will never give up. Poetry is my whole life. Poetry is simply Dareen, and Dareen is poetry.

This translation of this interview from Arabic to English was facilitated by Lubna Hammad ofAdalah-NY and Yoav Haifawi.

Exclusive interview with Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour from her home, where she remains under house arrest

Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested because of her posts on social media.

In October, police raided her home in the middle of the night. They handcuffed Tatour, a 35-year-old poet, and took her away.

“You look like a terrorist,” an interrogator told her. The Israeli government accused Tatour of inciting violence with her poetry and Facebook posts.

She faces up to eight years in prison, if convicted on all charges. Her case is still pending, and the trial will resume on Sep. 6.

Tatour has already spent three months in Israeli prisons, and another six months under house arrest in an apartment near Tel Aviv, which her family was forced to pay for.

In late July, an Israeli judge ruled that she can continue her house arrest in her family’s home near Nazareth.

The judge’s decision came after more than 250 prominent writers, intellectuals and artists published an open letter calling for Tatour’s release. Among those who endorsed the letter were Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Dave Eggers, Claudia Rankine and 10 Pulitzer Prize winners, including renowned poet Alice Walker and journalist Kathryn Schulz.

Since then, more than 7,000 people have signed the letter, and activists have created an international solidarity campaign in support of Tatour.

Tatour’s story is one of many. From October 2015 to July 2016, the Israeli government arrested roughly 400 Palestinians for social media posts, according to local rights groups.

Yet her case has gotten particular international attention, given its chilling implications for civil rights for Palestinians in Israel, the U.S. government’s closest ally.

U.S. social justice group Jewish Voice for Peace recently published a video message featuring Tatour in her home in Reineh, an Israeli city near Nazareth, where she remains under house arrest.

Salon organized an interview with Tatour. The interview was conducted in person, in Arabic, and translated with the help of Yoav Haifawi.

Can you explain what has happened since your arrest and imprisonment?

I’m still detained and pending trial, since they burst in at 3:30 am on Oct. 11, 2015. A large police force raided our house, and asked my parents to call me, because they came to take me. They did not have an arrest warrant, violating the most basic laws.

After my interrogation they decided to put me on trial and to hold me in prison until the end of the trial. I can say that the interrogation and the trial are a farce and a shame for any system that claims to be democratic.

Initially I was jailed for three months, during which I was transferred between three prisons: Jalameh, Sharon and Damoun.

Later, the court put me under house arrest in the Tel Aviv area, and this meant I was in exile far away from my town. I stayed there for over six months, during which I was prevented from going out and from communicating over the internet at all times, day and night.

Then, in the wake of the mounting solidarity campaign protesting the undemocratic practices against me, I was transferred to the house arrest in my town, Reineh. Here, I’m not allowed to go out, except for just six hours per week, and they’re making me wear an unremovable electronic bracelet on my ankle to monitor my movements.

What were the conditions like in the prisons? Can you talk about your experience and the other Palestinian prisoners?

First, there are thousands of Palestinian prisoners serving sentences in Israeli jails, and among them women and children — in addition to administrative detainees, who are being held by Israel without charge, and of course without trial, for an unknown period, because, according to the emergency laws, administrative detention can be extended repeatedly with no limit.

When I was in prison I was with Palestinian women prisoners. I experienced the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners in all humanitarian aspects. I witnessed the neglect they suffer in Israeli jails, in terms of environmental and health conditions, and cruel treatment.

The prisoners in general, and especially women prisoners, are deprived of basic human rights, and I mean especially the right to receive proper medical treatment.

Israeli prisons are full of injustice; whatever I say will not be enough to describe the life of Palestinian prisoners there. I met there innocent women prisoners who didn’t commit any crime.

For example, I was arrested because of a poem, and I met a girl who was detained because she wrote a private letter to her sister about personal and family concerns, and because she said the word “suicide,” she was thrown in jail for three months.

Why do you think Israel is going after poets and other artists, and arresting Palestinians for social media posts?

The political persecution, detentions and restrictions on freedom of expression, in my opinion, are a symptom of the crisis of Israel. As the Zionist authorities intensify repression and step up their incitement campaigns against Palestinians, they feel more weakness and impotence.

On the one hand the Palestinians increasingly reject their colonial practices and racial oppression; on the other hand, as a response to the emerging culture of hatred at the popular level, an opposing anti-fascist stream is taking shape in Israeli society. This puts Israel in a dilemma, forcing it to step up its repression, thus exposing the Israeli regime as anti-democratic.

Is it hypocritical for Israel to insist it is a democracy while it arrests people who criticize it?

Of course it is. Israel is not a democratic state. To the extent that it is democratic, its democracy applies only to one category of people, of citizens — that is, it is only democracy for Jews. For this reason I call it sectarian democracy or fake or hypocritical democracy.

However, even this kind of democracy started collapsing recently, as I explained in the previous answer.

Do you know if the letter from the 250 literary figures helped improve your situation?

Yes, of course. The solidarity campaign, including the petition, which was signed by many artists, writers and people from all over the world, helped very much.

In the beginning the conditions of my detention were very harsh. I was detained for several months in a house near Tel Aviv, away from my family and the place where I used to live. I was completely isolated from people; I was prevented from leaving the house altogether. It was more like a detention in solitary isolation cell in exile. It continued like this for more than six months.

Before the escalation of the solidarity campaign, my lawyer filed a request to transfer my home detention from Tel Aviv to Reineh — my town — but the prosecution strongly objected, refusing even to let my request be heard in court.

However, after the publication of the petition, it changed its attitude to the request, and eventually approved. My return from Tel Aviv to house arrest in Reineh greatly alleviated the conditions of my detention.

Do you think that continuing public pressure may influence the final verdict in your case?

Yes, definitely, the public response to the call for solidarity in my case, and around the issue of freedom of expression in general, is the only effective pressure that may change this unfortunate situation.

I believe that public pressure may force the Israeli authorities to reconsider the persecution of Palestinian artists, writers and young activists just because they express their rejection of oppression.

What gives you hope?

Hope is the foundation of life. There is a saying that I used to repeat before my arrest, and I still say it: “We dream in order to continue living.” Here I compare dreams with hope, because without hope we are going to die even as we are alive, and only our bodies will remain.

Hope is the sense of life, of freedom, of safety. It is what gives meaning to everything experienced by humans; we breathe hope to live meaningful lives.

What can human rights activists in the U.S. and elsewhere do to help fight for your rights and the rights of other Palestinians?

The U.S. government is the world’s biggest supporter of Israel. Activists in American society can put pressure on Israel in order to shed light on the issue of freedom of expression and the harassment by the Israeli authorities against those who oppose their views.

Palestinian Arab people in Israel are facing campaign of racist incitement, on both official and popular levels. Attacks on them multiply just because they speak Arabic in public places. These are dangerous developments. In this regard, I believe human rights activists should sound the alarm before it is too late.

Ben Norton is a politics staff writer at Salon. You can find him on Twitter at@BenjaminNorton.

After more than three months in jail and more than six months in house arrest on exile near Tel Aviv, after her unexpected detention yesterday (Monday, July 25, 2016), poet Dareen Tatour was allowed today to return to Reineh, still under house arrest and the same harsh conditions.

Celebrating Dareen’s return to Reineh: with writer Kim Jensen

But it was only at about 20:30 that Tawfiq, Dareen’s father, collected her from the street near Damoun prison on Mount Carmel. It was another crazy day showing how the whole judiciary, police, prosecution and the prison department are doing everything to make life unbearable for the Palestinians (and many other ordinary residents).

Yesterday judge Hana Sabagh, at the Nazareth low court, decided to send Dareen to prison, in spite of the agreement by the prosecution to let her go back to Reineh, just because the private company that is responsible to the electronic surveillance didn’t yet submit a written report. The hearing today was set to 13:00, and the defense lawyers, Juana Far, had the missing paper ready with her, so we expected a smooth sail.

Hearing Problems

This time we were not waiting with Dareen, as she was held in a prison cell in the basement of the building, after spending the night in Jelemeh detention center. At about 14:00 she was brought to the isolated deck in the court room, carefully watched by two guards, a man and a woman.

As the judge started the hearing, noting the agreement between the prosecution and the defense, the prosecution lawyer requested to speak. At the last moment she tried to tighten Dareen’s detention restrictions. Some three month ago, the court allowed Dareen a small “window” in her house arrest: On Thursday, Friday and Saturday every week she is allowed to get out of the house, still accompanied by one of her supervisors, for two hours (from 17:00 till 19:00). This is less than the time that regular prisoners are allowed to go to stretch their body in the prison yard. Now the prosecution wanted to abolish this small window as a price for their agreement to Dareen’s return to Reineh. Luckily the judge frowned at this new complication and made it clear that the conditions stay as they are.

But just as we expected the judge to order the release of Dareen and that we will be allowed to go together out of court, he found a new way to torture us. Even that the only reason for Dareen’s arrest yesterday was the missing paper, he ordered now that Dareen will be taken back to prison until the surveillance company will complete all the technical arrangement.

Bureaucratic Nightmare

We started a craze race against time to get all the paper work done. They wouldn’t give you the necessary forms in court to fill, so the lawyer had to go back to her office to find the right forms and come back to the court house to let Dareen sign them in her prison cell.

After the first bunch of papers was ready, the company asked for another couple of forms to be filled. It was already 15:40 and the gourds, officers of the “Nakhshon” prisoners’ transfer unit, said that if we can get all the papers right until 16:00 or 16:30 we may get Dareen with us from the court. Otherwise they will return her back to prison.

So lawyer Juana hurried back to her office. But the surveillance company insisted that the forms should be sent to them from the court’s fax and not from the lawyer’s office. In spite of the strike we found some nice clerk in the court’s office that agreed to get the faxes from Juana and send them to the company. It was exactly 16:30 when we receive the fax delivery confirmation from the court’s office. We warmly thanked the clerk, wished her victory in the strike and run down to “minus 3” were the prisoners are held.

The guards were still there holding Dareen, but the surveillance company said they didn’t get the fax yet. We called the lawyers and requested them to call the company and see what the hell is going on with them. At about 17:00 the people at the company admitted that they received the fax, but said that they want somebody from the court’s office to call them to make sure that it was really sent from the court. We run back to the court’s office but there was nobody there. In the meantime it became clear that the guards are also gone with Dareen – the brave ones simply spirited away without telling us, leaving us waiting at the door and ringing the bell in vain.

Unwanted Prisoner

The next chapter is what I heard from Dareen after she was released.

She was taken by the guards. Initially they said that they will take her to “Ha-Sharon” prison, near Kfar Saba, some 90 kilometers away. Then, for unknown reason, they changed their mind and decided to take her to Damoun, the last prison where she spent time in her three month imprisonment.

The “Nakhshonim” tried to submit her to the prison officers, but those checked in their computers and found that Dareen was released and refused to accept here. Hearing that, the Nakhshonim decided that they have already lost too much time on this lost cause and just drove away, leaving Dareen there, standing at the gates of the Damoun prison – an unwanted prisoner.

The prison officers let Dareen make a telephone call (her telephone was taken from her when she was arrested). Luckily she remembered the number of her brother, who called her father. For a long time she just stood there, near the mountain road, waiting for her father to come and take her home.

Celebrations

At night, when they finally reached the family house in Reineh, there were happy celebrations with many people coming to congratulate Dareen on her return home after an ordeal that lasted more than nine months. There were fireworks, food and oriental sweets.

Vegan food in the celebrations of the home-coming of (vegetarian) Dareen – Mujadara

There was also music – it came out the Dareen is learning also to play the guitar – in addition to her love for poetry and photography. Holding her guitar she told us how the policemen that came to arrest her on October and confiscated her computer and smartphone asked about the guitar: Is it yours also? She replied: Will you take my guitar also?

As we left the house at half past midnight, the whole family was expecting a white night. The people from the surveillance company said they will come at around 02:00 to install the equipment. Despite judge Sabagh’s tireless effort, Dareen was left for many hours without active surveillance. And this time, in spite of all his efforts, he failed even to ruin our day.

Even as Dareen was celebrating her home-coming, we talked about the next phase of the trial. If found “guilty” – which is what happens with about 99% of the people indicted in Israeli courts – she is expected to serve another prolonged period in prison. The struggle to #Free_Dareen_Tatour, like the bigger struggle for Palestinian human rights, has still a long way to go.

But will it make a difference?

It is more than 9 months since Dareen Tatour, the Palestinian poet from Reineh, was arrested and accused of inciting violence… all for one poem, two statuses and sharing the image of Israa Abed. She spent three months in three different prisons and is now confined to a small apartment in a suburb of Tel Aviv, more than a hundred kilometers away from her home and friends.

“The fact that a poet was arrested and tried under such baseless accusations is the result not only of the racist system (police, prosecution, judiciary), but also of the indifference of public opinion. Where are the poets and writers when we need them to protect the freedom of expression?”

To be honest, the response was more than anything I expected.

Through the last month, we had not only a hearing of Dareen’s request to alleviate the conditions of her detention on Monday 27/6, but also a demonstration in Yaffa (Saturday 25/6), a poetry night in Tel Aviv (also 27/6) and another in Haifa (Thursday 30/6) and high profile media cover.

No News from the Northern Front

Since her transfer from prison to house detention, Dareen is held in very harsh conditions. The prosecution waged guerilla warfare to prevent or delay her transfer and refuse any option that was proposed to the court, appealing against any decision that went a small step in Dareen’s way. The result was that Dareen is now closed 24 hours a day in a small apartment that her brother was forced to rent in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv. She wears an electronic device on her ankle that monitors all her movements. But her two volunteer guards are still obliged to stay with her 24 hours a day “to make sure she doesn’t connect to the internet”, or they will pay a high fine and Dareen will be returned to jail. They both have to work opposite shifts and had to stop their studies. The lives of three people came to a standstill for unlimited period.

Dareen’s lawyer, Abed Fahoum, submitted a request to the Nazareth court, to transfer Dareen’s detention back to the family’s home in Reineh. As the prosecution refused, for different reasons, all proposed “guards”, the new request listed six possible new guards, in addition to Dareen’s parents. It took more than a month till the court set the date to study the request on June 27.

The prosecution position was very sharp. There is no reason to even hear the request, as there is nothing new in the case. After half a year of house detention the prosecution will typically agree for softening the conditions – but not in Dareen’s case. Judge Idris is already traumatized after the many hearings he already held about Dareen’s detention and after several of his decision were overturned on appeal. He clearly wanted the prosecution to soften its position, but as there was no sign of it he left Dareen under the same harsh conditions until a second hearing on July 18.

Dareen burst in tears in the court as she heard of the decision. She said before that if her conditions are not alleviated she may request to go back to prison. But now she will hold her breath until July 18.

The lawyer also requested to let Dareen to spend the Eid al-Fitr next week with her family. The prosecution lawyer requested to call his superiors, and then requested to answer that request in writing within two days. The written answer, apparently from the higher circles in the Nazareth prosecution, was sharp objection. In the end the judge decided to let Dareen stay with her family only a day and a half of the Eid’s three days…

From Yaffa’s clock square to Haaretz Editorial

A second vigil was initiated in Yaffa (Jaffa) by local Palestinian activists. It concentrated on Dareen’s case but raised also the issue of administrative detention of Palestinian activists. Some fifty activists took part with significant presence of the media, including Al-Jazeera and Haaretz.

On Sunday there were two articles in Haaretz: one by Vered Lee contained many interviews that she held in the vigil, including with Dareen’s father; the other about the planned poetry events. On Monday morning, the day of the hearing concerning Dareen’s detention conditions, Haaretz editorial in Hebrew and English called for Dareen’s release.

The Hebrew Poet’s Letter

As the case drags on in court, there was time enough for many poets to wake up and take a stand. At the initiative of poet Tal Nitzan, the following letter was written:

We, poets, writers and members of the academy, are shocked and appalled by the arrest of Dareen Tatour and the charges she is facing for publishing a poem online and status updates on Facebook. Dareen Tatour, an Israeli citizen, has been imprisoned for three months and is now under a severely limiting house arrest awaiting her trial, for publishing a poem online.http://bit.ly/1W8xN7v

This is a clear case of unjust silencing and a severe violation of freedom of speech and protest, a new and grave stage in the deterioration of human rights in Israel, and a shameful proceeding that is befitting a totalitarian state and is unacceptable in a so called democratic state.

This prosecution of an Arab poet is particularly disturbing considering the law enforcement authorities disregard for the violent, racist and much more extreme content posted by Jewish citizens daily. This is a practice of double standard and a biased oppression, intolerable in a state that presumes to practice equality before the law. http://bit.ly/1Jf17Sp

As writers, deeply committed to freedom of speech and human rights, we will not stand by. We demand freedom for Dareen Tatour and withdrawal of the charges against her.

Poetry Evening in Tel Aviv

Tal Nitzan also collaborated with colleagues in organizing two poetry events in Tel Aviv and in Haifa. The event in Tel Aviv was held in the “Sipur Pashut” (simple story) library in Neve Zedek. A long list of poets, writers and academics announced their participation. I copy it here for you from the event’s page on Facebook:

Poetry evening in “Sipur Pashut”

Dr. Ilana Hammerman

Tal Nitzan

Liat Kaplan

Yael Gluberman

Diti Ronen

Dr. Anat Matar

Alma Miriam Catz

Reading a poem for Dareen (in Haifa)

Dana Amir

Noam Partom

Eli Hirsh

Sheikha Hilawi

Rachel Peretz

Esti G. Haim

Roy Chicky Arad

Raanan Ben Tovim

Meytal Nadler

Eitan Boloken

Maki Hacham Neeman

Hila Aharon Brik

Arlet Mincher

Stav Almagor

I succeeded to arrive there after the court hearing, and, though being completely tired, I was very impressed both with the dense presence – people literally climbed one above the other to find a place – and by the thoughtful selection of texts and special words that were prepared for the event.

But now the initiative came from Hebrew writing poets and they didn’t want it to be confined to Tel Aviv alone. We looked for a place that will be more identified with the Jewish society in Haifa and agreed with “Isha L’Isha” (Woman for Woman) feminist center to host the event. Later on the organizers received threats from right wing activists and we had to find a new place at short notice. We went back to Palestinian Haifa, where Al-Yakhour youth hostel was happy to host us and the right wing activists didn’t even bother to call.

Being in Haifa, there were Arab and Jew poets, all gathering in the open air entrance of Al-Yakhour for the event. Here is the list of the readers from the invitation:

Rasia Feru

Lee Mamman

Some of the participants in the Haifa event

Lilach Galil

Turkey ‘Amer

Sigal Ben Yair

Heiam Abu Zuluf

Meital Nissim

Sami Mhanna

Oren Agmon

Sabrina De Rita

Rajaa Zoabi Omari

Lilach Weber

Shira Cohen

Ali Mawassi

Yehya Atalla

Majd Sgheir

Some of them didn’t really show up – but the virtual participation meant making a democratic stance in support of Dareen and Free Speech.

Poet Lilach Weber even wrote a special poem called “The Right Side of History” about Dareen’s persecution for poetry, which she published in Ha-Oketz and read to us in that evening.

I had the honor to thank the participants in the name of the organizers. I emphasized that our solidarity with Dareen Tatour is not because her case is so special but mostly because her case is an example of the similar fate of hundreds of Palestinian youth that are persecuted for expressing their resistance to Israeli racism and occupation. I added that even the general repression of the right of expression and free speech is not the heart of the problem but more like a symptom. When you hold millions of people without basic human rights and no democratic way to control their lives or decide their future, resistance and repression are the natural results.

More Poetic Solidarity

The poetry world has its own ways to express solidarity.

A Hebrew poetry magazine named “Maayan” (spring) decided to give Dareen its prize for “Poet in Struggle” – with an attached check of 500 shekel.

What Next?

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 17, at 4:00 pm, there should be another of the main trial against Dareen, with more policemen coming to testify about the “confessions” that they extracted from her, from her computer and from her cellphone.

Israa Abed – shot by Israeli soldiers in Afula central bus station. Posting her picture is one of the indictment articles against Dareen Tatour

On Monday, July 18, at 9:00 am, judge Idris is expected to decide about Dareen request to go back to Reineh, even if under strict house detention.

We all hope that the public pressure so far (and some common sense) will be enough at least to let the court counter the prosecution’s pressure and allow Dareen to return home. Otherwise Dareen may prefer to go back to prison – at least her detention period in prison (unlike house detention) may be counted in case that she will be sentenced for more time in prison.

Later, in September, the court will start to hear the defense case. A lot is at stake there. The defense will state that Dareen’s poem and Facebook statuses are perfectly legitimate artistic and political expressions. Can you convince an Israeli judge to recognize this? Farther more, the defense will claim that the whole prosecution apparatus in Israel is systematically targeting Palestinians for legitimate expression of political opposition while it totally ignores severe incitement for violence by right wing Zionists against Arabs. It is a lot to prove – and there is plenty of evidence to support it – but will the court be ready to hear it?

If Dareen Tatour is finally convicted, which is a very possible result, the accusations against her can carry up to 8 years in prison. By the latest cases in Israeli courts sentences of around 1 year of imprisonment seem to be quite common.